Around the Web

March 6, 2015 at 12:00 am | Posted in Around the Web, Comic Books, Conventions, Events, Interview, Marvel, Movies, News, Regular Feature, Star Wars, Star Wars News, Star Wars Rebels, Television, Toys & Collectibles, Trailer | Leave a comment
Tags: dave filoni, paul s. kemp, phil tippett, terry dodson

Here is this week’s Around the Web news roundup of Star Wars and beyond.

Comic News

Jedi-Bibliothek spotted a bunch of new Marvel Star Wars collection titles including Star Wars: The Marvel Covers Volume 1, Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith Volume 1 and collections for the Star Wars, Darth Vader, Kanan and Princess Leia series.

Convention & Event News

First up, some more Star Wars Celebration Anaheim news. As we get closer to April, they’ve released some more guest announcements. While still no word on any of the new stars from The Force Awakens, they did reveal Ian McDiarmid will be back along with new guests like Star Wars Rebels voice actors Steve Blum, Taylor Gray, Vanessa Marshall, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Tiya Sircar. Other Star Wars guests include Troy Alders, Amy Allen, Christian Alzmann, Joel Aaron, Erik Bauersfeld, Dickey Beer, Anita Castellar, Leland Chee, Hez Chorba, Amy Beth Christenson, Stephen Constantino, Anthony Forest, Chris Glenn, Jennifer Heddle, Pablo Hidalgo, Keith Kellogg, Daniel Logan, Liz Marshall, John Morton, Brian Muir, Kyle Newman, Bonnie Piesse, Kilian Plunkett, Athena Yvette Portillo, Clive Revill, Jonathan Rinzler, Tim Rose, Orli Shoshan, Felix Silla, Pete Vilmur, Corey Dee Williams and Matthew Wood.

They’ve also revealed that the diorama area this year will focus on Bespin, and Sideshow will be doing an R2 art gallery with customized R2’s. You can check out some of the designs here.

Planet Comic Con is March 13 to 15 in Kansas City, MO. Star Wars Guests include Jason Aaron, Kevin J. Anderson, Howard Chaykin, Katie Cook, Tom Kane, Adrienne Wilkinson, Sam Witwer and Skottie Young.
Emerald City Comic-Con is March 27 to 29 in Seattle, WA. Star Wars guests include Anthony Daniels, Kevin J. Anderson, Corinna Bechko, Mark Brooks, J. Scott Campbell, Katie Cook, Rachel Dodson, Gabe Eltaeb, Adi Granov, Gabriel Hardman, Tom Hodges, Ryan Kelly, Rebecca Moesta, Livio Ramondelli, Humberto Ramos, Michael A. Stackpole, and Skottie Young.
Wondercon is April 3 to 5 in Anaheim, CA. Star Wars guests include Kevin J. Anderson, Sam de la Rosa, Braden Lamb, Rebecca Moesta, John Ostrander, Livio Ramondelli and Greg Weisman.
Middle East Film and Comic-Con is April 9 to 11 in Dubai. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli and Fiction Frontiers Sohaib Awan.
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim is April 16 to 19 in Anaheim, CA. Star Wars guests include Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Steve Blum, Dave Filoni, Taylor Gray, Vanessa Marshall, Freddie Prinze Jr., Tia Sircar Christie Golden, James Arnold Taylor, David Collins, Steve Sansweet, James Luceno and John Jackson Miller.
Tim Lebbon will be in London England at Forgotten Planet for the book launch of his latest novel The Silence on April 18th.
Disney Star Wars Weekends May 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, June 5-7, and 12-14 in Orlando, FL. Star Wars guests include James Arnold Taylor.
Phoenix Comicon is May 28th to 31 in Phoenix, AZ. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli.
Supanova is June 18 to 30 in Sydney and Perth. Star Wars guests include Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.
Botcon is June 19 to 21 in Chicago, IL. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli.
San Diego Comic-Con is July 8 to 12 in San Diego, CA. Star Wars guests include Carlos Ezquerra, Livio Ramondelli.
TFCON is July 17 to 19 in Toronto, ON. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli.
DragonCon is September 4 to 6 in Atlanta, GA. Star Wars guests include Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta and Livio Ramondelli.
Amazing Hawaii Con is September 18 to 20 in Hawaii. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli.
New York Comic-Con is October 8 to 11 in New York, NY. Star Wars guests include Livio Ramondelli.

For more events, be sure to check out Star Wars Actors Appearances.

Fandom News

StarWars.com has posted part two and three of their interview with Star Wars Rebels excecutive producer Dave Filoni. Dave also spoke with IGN and USA Today.
Flickering Myth has an interview with legendary special effects artist Phil Tippett.
StarWars.com has an interview with comic artist Terry Dodson covering the Princess Leia series.
Author Paul S. Kemp answered a quick question on Facebook regarding what it’s like to write Darth Vader.

At first very weird. In general, I prefer to write characters who are entirely my own creation. If I can’t do that, I fall back to characters who have been little explored in the canon (like Jaden Korr). So this was a departure for me. It was also intimidating at first, in that almost everyone everywhere in the world knows Vader and has some idea about how he should (in their mind) be portrayed.

But this is Vader. And having the opportunity to write Vader was such an honor that there was no way in the world I was going to pass it up.

And within a very short time I felt comfortable in his headspace and felt like I had a very good handle on his literary voice. We’ll see what everyone else thinks about that soon enough. Two months.

Movie & Television News

In some scary news, Harrison Ford was injured in a plane crash yesterday in Venice, CA. He crash landed the plane and according to his son, he is “Battered, but ok!” Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time he’s crash landed.
In happier news, Making Star Wars is reporting a rumor that Sam Witwer will be joining the cast for season two of Star Wars Rebels.
While Sam’s involvement is rumored, it has been officially announced that Sarah Michelle Gellar will be joining the cast of Star Wars Rebels for season two. So yes, now Buffy is officially a part of Star Wars. But how will Freddie’s wife being in the studio affect all those Hera/Kanan shippers?
AMC Theaters will be rolling out Marvel movies in anticipation for the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron in one epic marathon and select theaters. Regal Theaters will also be hosting marathons in select theaters. And if you don’t want to sit in a seat that long, they’re also doing double features.
Now for movie trailers. Prepare yourself for this one: Owen Wilson in a serious movie. It’s called No Escape and actually looks intriguing. It won’t be out until September 2nd.

Age of Ultron trailer #3.

This one’s a bit different. Ian McKellan is playing a retired Sherlock Holmes as he solves one last mystery in Mr. Holmes.

Owen Wilson isn’t the only comedic actor turning toward more serious roles, as Ryan Reynolds is stepping up for Self/less which looks really good. It will be out July 31st.

Toy & Collectible News

USA Today has a look at Hasbro’s upcoming Star Wars Rebels Darth Vader and Ahsoka action figures.
Sideshow‘s premium format Darth Vader is up for pre-order.
Her Universe has unveiled an awesome new shirt that is a cross-over of Darth Vader and Ahsoka. Very cool.
Gentle Giant has pre-orders up for the Han Solo Hero of Yavin mini bust.